Sunday, January 31, 2010

So today's blog post is going to be a little random. Several of the blogs I read are about running, and a few of those bloggers have started to post about their running times. I've always liked running, and consider myself a recreational runner, so I really enjoy those posts. It helps remind me that I'm not the only slow run on the sidewalk, while also showing me how much hard work it takes to get faster.

Before I jump into all the data of my runs let me just say that today was my "cross-training day." I'm planning on running a half-marathon near Austin at the end of March (if any of you Texas bloggers want to join in let me know!). So I'm following a training plan which gives me one day off a week, and one cross-training day a week. Today I picked Spin Class. I used to be a Spin regular... you know those people who show up 15 min early just to get the good bikes... the ones who never seem to have to turn down the resistance but are always turning it up, up, up... yeah that USED to be me - okay, I did turn my resistance down once in a while, very discretely :)

However, today in Spin Class.. I died, seriously, I died. And not in the "Rachel Zoe how chic and awesome is that" way, but in the "I'm about to go into cardiac arrest and the EMT's are going to have to clear out this room and resuscitate me, and oh my gosh if someone's giving me mouth to mouth I hope the EMT looks like Mark Consuelos and I hope my breath is okay" way. Yeah, it was one hour of pure torture. Glad I did it, and I'm glad I don't have to do it again until next Sunday... hopefully next Sunday won't be sprints and hills.

Phew... on to running, which by the way also leaves me huffing and puffing and gasping for breath, but I am improving as the weeks go by. This week I ran 3.5 miles twice, and 4.1 miles once. My slowest mile was a 12:09 minute mile, and my fastest was a 9:45 minute mile. With an average mile of 11:30. So there it is, I'm slow and now you are all in on the secret. But being slow is one of my favorite things about running, to me it proves that anyone can run. You just put on some shoes and go. Sometimes you have to walk, somedays you do way more walking than running, but as long as you keep trying eventually you'll get to the point where you are running more and walking less... even if it's very, very slow running.

I'm hoping to run my half marathon in 2 hours to 2 hours and 40 minutes. That would put me at a pace of 10-11 minutes per mile. Do I think it's likely I'll drop 30 seconds per mile in the next 8 weeks... probably not, but I'm a goal oriented girl and this is what I'm pushing for. I may re-evaluate when I hit my first "long run" of 7 miles in the next few weeks. But for now, 2 hours, 2 hours, 2 hours is my new mantra!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

My loyal readers may rememberthis post last year,about former Domino Magazine (rest in peace dear friend) contributorNick Olson's Blog. Today I was perusing said blog and nick designed an entire room around this gorgeous dress from the Christian Dior Summer 2010. The dress was shown this week at the Paris shows. I'm thinking of wearing it to my white coat ceremony for medical school... Okay, okay, you're right I would be overdressed, but I simply need to create an event that would require my wearing this:

Welcome to my new followers... yesterday I found a whole wave of medical student, nurse, and Dr's wives blogs and I am so happy to be finding a medical community within the blog community.

This weekend we hosted a get together for all of our friends. We asked everyone to bring apps and something to drink. It was a great success. Our friends brought creme fresh on rye topped with smoked salmon and lemon zest, bruschetta on toast topped with pancetta and mozzarella, cream cheese raspberry chipotle dip. Then I made these delicious mushroom stuffed philo pockets from The Pioneer Woman Website:

as well as these delicious cream cheese stuffed bacon wrapped jalapenos from the same website.

And last week I made the lasagna from The Pioneer Woman website... I'm telling you right now. This woman knows how to cook. Easy, Fast and Delicious! The step by step photo instructions never leave me wondering "is this how it is supposed to look?" This weekend I'm hoping to make this cauliflower soup...mmmmm.

Slowly I have been telling people I know in real life about this blog. When I first started I wasn't sure if I wanted people to know... but you readers have given me the confidence to start sharing my blog with more people. I mean if all of you lovely former strangers in blog land want to read my drivel, then perhaps it's not so strange to think some of my In Real Life friends might want to as well... So here's to the gradual merging of my blog world and my real life world! Cheers!

Have you all ever heard of Lulus.com? Lulus is a wonderful shopping website. I don't think they have any brick and mortar stores. But you can almost always find super cute dresses on the cheap. While browsing their site I often find myself thinking, that looks like something Anthropologie would carry. Here is a selection of several of the dresses I'm eyeing on their website lately. The fantastic thing about all these dresses is they range from $35 - $60.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Readers, as some of you may remember I have had the honor to meet the ever preppy and wonderful interior designer Eddie Ross through blog land... (he used to be a regular feature on my Eddie Ross at ETSY weekly updates)!

Well readers, now is the chance to jump up and down and show our support for Eddie. You see Eddie Ross has been chosen by Elle Decor to design a window at Bloomingdales. Three designers have been asked to decorate three big windows of the Bloomingdales flagship Manhattan Store.

The designers and their windows are from Apartment Therapy (Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan),

Habitually Chic, one of the most well connected interior design bloggers in Manhattan, has scored the most fantastic up close and personal pictures of Eddie's window. I love Eddie's use of punchy fabrics, and that bright blue side table lamp, and of course the classic color and design of the furniture leave the room with lots of options!

The designers used furnishings found at Bloomy's. Although I'm not sure what they win for getting the most votes, however I'm sure it's something fabulous (Eddie, if you know would you mind telling us?).

Eddie Ross is a designer close to my heart. He got a degree from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY (which is where The Preppy Boyfriend got his degree, and for whom he now works). Eddie then went on to work for Martha Stewart, and the Food Network. Eddie then opened his own catering company, and after two years accepted a position as Associate Decorating Editor at House Beautiful. After House Beautiful Eddie went to work as the Senior Style Editor of Martha Stewart Living. He appeared on season two of Bravo's top Design, and now in conjunction with his partner Jaithan runs Eddie Ross, Inc. a lifestyle company.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

First of all they are launching a new line of cookware for Giada DeLaurentiis. Although, I've only seen a few of her shows and have never tried her recipes, I love her style and am excited to see what her cookware looks like. I just thinks she is so classy, and charming!

They are also launching a Great Save event where the prove they are as cost effective as Sam's Club and Costco. The event will run through Feb 21st, it will be centered around a display set up near the middle of each Target. The display will include a large number of bulk items, as well as new designer clothing and interior brands that Target doesn't normally carry.

Target has also purchased the Smith and Hawken brand, although they've been known to carry Smith and Hawken items before, this move should greatly increase the amount and widespread availability of such items. I personally am tickled to find Smith and Hawken items at Target prices. Hopefully the quality remains the same!

How chic and preppy are these Smith and Hawken doormats?

I have been eyeing this pig watering can for ages, and it is almost half price at Target from what it was at the original Smith and Hawken.

And then I found these beauties on sale for $5.94 - I mean seriously $6 for a super cute clutch... that's a total steal readers!

I'm partial to the black and gold, but they also carry an all black and an all silver (the photos are links to the items... just click the photo click add to cart and proceed to check out)

Sunday, January 17, 2010

As most of you know I'm starting medical school in the fall... medical school = outrageously expensive! However, I found this really great program called UPromise. With UPromise, you can either register one of your credit cards at the site, or you can use my personalized shopping link (I'll post it below). When you either use one of your registered credit cards, or use the shopping link a portion of each of your purchases will go to help pay for my college tuition.

Is this a shameless plug? Absolutely, however there are benefits to you. First of all the program costs you nothing, and secondly through UPromise there are 1,000's of coupons and sales that you won't otherwise be offered. Everyone from Expedia, to Nordstrom's, Victoria's Secret to Ebay are a part of the program. It costs you nothing, and it helps me to pay for medical school...

It works similar to Rue La La, when you register, you name me as the person who sent you, and with Rue La La I get a $10 referral credit and you get access to great sales (clink Here if you haven't signed up yet), with UPromise they pay money towards my college tuition and you still get access to great sales in store and online. If you want to register your card/cards with UPromise email me (danimjo@aol.com) and I will give you the link and my information to name me as the beneficiary. If you don't want to register your card you can use this link to shop at your favorite online vendors, find great coupons and sales, and they will make a donation towards my medical school tuition.

With UPromise as with Rue La La, nobody else will have access to your account or to your credit card information. It is completely 100% private. Your account is your account, and my account is my account.

Should you ever want to join any of the member's only sales and shopping sites I've mentioned on this blog just view the panel on the left hand side of my blog... you can click each of the links for instant invitations. With the exception of One King's Lane, if you want to belong to One King's Lane email me at danimjo@aol.com and I will email you an invitation.

Friday, January 15, 2010

So here we are over two weeks into the New Year and I'm finally posting my resolutions! Phew... luckily being early is not one of them :)

My Preppy Resolutions 2010

1. Keep going to church - you started a great habit of going to church regularly and you're spiritual life is growing - keep, keep, keep it up :)

2. Eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. - It's an easy way to eat better, and since I love veggies and fruit it shouldn't be too hard with a little advance planning!

3. Stick to your Budget. I'm using the free web service mint.com, and the graphics make my budget look fun. Once you get everything entered it really is easy to keep it up! Trust me... drop by mint.com, and in case you don't trust me read the review of Mint.com on financial magazine Kiplinger's website.

4. Send more letters just because! I love to write a quick note and drop it in the mail, it's fun to send, fun to receive and it always leaves me feeling like I've accomplished something extraordinary! So many things in life are complicated, so start doing this easy thing to add joy to your life and the live's of others.

5. Take one mini (or longer if possible) vacation before med school. Having spent the last four years as an active member of the corporate work force where vacation time is miniscule and oooohhh so precious, I realize that the next four years of my life will be the last four years that I will ever get a "summer vacation," in college I spent all of my out of school time working - even of Christmas break... Hopefully, I can avoid doing this in medical school. I know I'm really going to need to let off some steam after the rigors of med school!

Working my last 6 months ever in corporate America (so long wonderful offices in skyscrapers, hello hospital wards). I aim to enjoy getting dressed for corporate America. To soak in every ounce of the view from my skyscraper window as long as possible! (Any guesses as to which building is mine?)

Moving to the San Francisco Bay Area.... from Wyoming, to Arkansas, to New York, to Florida, to Texas, I have had the opportunity to live in wonderful cities all over America. I'm tickled pink to add the Bay Area to the list!

Starting Medical School and Finishing my first semester of medical school. I have spent the past 13 years of my life working toward this goal, and now that it's nearly begun... well, I'm just giddy with anticipation, and nervousness! Here's to making the most of medical school, and hoping I find a great group of study partners and friends!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

I am feeling much, much better... and my recent surgery has led me to be even more reflective about my New Year's Resolutions, which I will post in my next post.

While recovering from surgery I was on some heavy doses of pain medication, and I sort of missed a whole week. I remember very little of it, and the things I do remember are a bit fuzzy and I can't tell you what day or even what time of day they happened. It's the strangest thing. And somehow I'm sort of sad for the lost time. I expect to lose a few hours or even a day after anesthesia from surgery, but I literally lost an entire week.

How sad it must be to have an addiction to pain killers and spend all of your days in that thick fog... imagine how hard it is to come clean after years and realize how much you've lost? Crazy....